Reel in This Amazing Bass
If you’ve been looking for a truly unique 4-string electric bass, your search is over. The Reverend Basshouser Fatfish 32 packs premium tonewoods, electronics, and parts into an elegantly crafted, boutique-grade instrument at a delightfully affordable price. What’s unique about Brad Houser’s Reverend signature axe? Pretty much everything. Reverend Guitars started with a resonant semi-hollow body made of high-grade korina. Then they added a fast, super-stable 5-piece maple/walnut set neck topped with a silky smooth, bound maple fingerboard with 21 frets and block inlays (with a cool entwined-circles inlay at the first fret). There’s a powerful passive electronics package that features two custom humbucking pickups with a blend control for fast tone shaping. A custom high-mass bridge, a Boneite nut, and Hipshot Ultralite tuners on a wicked reverse headstock complete the setup. Undeniably impressive, but wait: we’ve saved perhaps the best feature for last — a 32-inch medium scale length that gives the Basshouser Fatfish 32 effortless playability!
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The perfect scale length for comfort and tone
The electric bass guitar was originally developed around a 34-inch scale length; and although this scale length remains the full-sized “standard,” these instruments can be quite large and unwieldy in the hands of younger and/or smaller players. Targeted to these musicians, the 30-inch scale length has also become a standard — albeit one with compromises that prompt player complaints such as floppy string feel and tubby tone. Enter the 32-inch “medium” scale length found on the Reverend Basshouser Fatfish 32. Striking the perfect balance between playing comfort and tonal tightness, the Basshouser Fatfish 32 provides a relaxed hand feel with a taught, responsive low E string you don’t have to be hesitant to play open. With its classic fat, tight, and punchy tone, you won’t even be aware you’re not playing a full-sized bass — except for the fluid playability you’ll experience as your fingers dance up and down the fretboard. For bassists used to full-scale instruments, you’re in for a treat. And if you’re coming from short-scale basses — welcome to a whole new world!
Top-shelf tonewoods, top-drawer components
As do all Reverend guitars and basses, the Basshouser Fatfish 32 comprises only the finest tonewoods and components — materials you expect to find on boutique, custom-shop instruments costing considerably more. From its proprietary pickups and custom high-mass bridge to its ultra-stable 5-piece maple/walnut neck, the Fatfish 32 is designed from the ground up for high performance. Reverend uses high-grade korina (white limba) — coveted for its consistency, and harmonic richness — for their guitar and bass bodies. Korina is a highly resonant tonewood, a quality that is further enhanced by the Fatfish 32’s semi-hollowbody construction.
Semi-hollow resonance, solidbody sustain
The Basshouser Fatfish 32 delivers the best of both worlds — the warmth and vibrancy of a semi-hollowbody, along with the sustain and punch of a solidbody. Although it handles like a solidbody, its body cavity and comma-shaped soundhole impart a liveliness to its tone that solidbody basses typically lack. This, combined with the instrument’s korina body construction, gives the Fatfish 32 a unique tone that’s eminently sculptable, thanks to the instrument’s flexible tone-shaping control setup.
Powerful electronics package
The Basshouser Fatfish 32 is loaded with a powerful passive electronics package that includes two proprietary custom humbucking pickups: a Thick Brick dual-coil in the neck position and a P-Blade split-coil at the bridge. This arrangement delivers a fat, round, and punchy tone that’s quickly tweakable via a pickup pan knob, letting you easily dial in aggressive growl to taste and adding the finishing touches with master volume and tone controls. We find this arrangement extremely effective, making it refreshingly straightforward to nail the perfect tone for any live gig or recording session. This potent sonic elixir gets routed to your amp or DI with its purity intact, courtesy of boutique-quality parts that include 10% Alpha control pots and polyester capacitors and a robust Pure Tone Technologies jack with custom 4-screw jack plate.
Reverend Guitars: expertly crafted and designed with the player in mind
From humble beginnings working out of a Detroit-area garage to worldwide praise and presence on the globe’s biggest stages, Reverend Guitars has solidified its place as a reliable source of exquisite guitars and basses. The brainchild of designer and luthier Joe Naylor, Reverend instruments are found accompanying many of today’s most influential players, including Billy Corgan, Reeves Gabrels, Meshell Ndegeocello, Matt West, and many others. Now based in Toledo, Ohio, Reverend’s firm commitment to quality and exceptional tone is found in every instrument, each donning custom-shop components to deliver the purest sound possible. Sweetwater is delighted to bring you this formidable lineup of innovative musical instruments.
Reverend Basshouser Fatfish 32 Electric Bass Features:
- Semi-hollow korina body, solid maple back
- Pickups: P-Blade (bridge), Thick Brick (neck)
- String-through-body/top-load High Mass bridge 3/4-inch spacing
- 5-piece maple/walnut neck, Medium Oval profile
- 32-inch medium scale length
- Maple fingerboard, 12-inch radius
- Dual-action truss rod, headstock access
- Hipshot Ultralite tuners
- Boneite synthetic bone nut
- Volume, Tone, and Pickup Pan controls
- +/-10% Alpha control pots and poly caps
- Pure Tone Technologies jack; custom jack plate